Glacier Express St.Moritz to Zermatt, stay in Chur

I reserved a hotel in Chur before I knew where I would be coming from - it just looked cool! - so now I know I will need to get to Chur from Zermatt. Is that a reasonable train trip or should I cancel the hotel? I only have a few days starting Feb 20 and am doing a terrible job planning. (Or not planning) So far I have tickets on the Glacier Express from St Moritz to Zermatt. Planning to spend the night in Zermatt then head to Chur. But there are so many wonderful things to see! - what are the “don’t miss” areas? Help! I can still cancel my hotel in Chur. Thank you for any advice!

Hi BLINGRAHAM,

Welcome to MySwissAlps.

If you're taking the Glacier Express to Zermatt from St Moritz, perhaps you realize that you're going right through Chur? That's an 8 hour ride right there. To go back to Chur from Zermatt is another six hours. That will be 14 hours of train travel, more than half a day. I would rather see the sights than the same 14 hours of the same scenery. Just my opinion. For only "having a few days in Switzerland" I would strongly suggest either canceling the Chur hotel, Or, just start out from Chur on the GP and forego St Moritz. I'm not sure how you're getting to St Moritz, but maybe consider going to Chur instead. St Moritz in high ski season right now, and is fairly expensive. Pretty, but if you're not skiing, maybe just start in Chur.

Perhaps it may a better idea to give a heads up about your plans, such as where you're coming from, leaving from, how many days are a few. Any interests other than the hotel and Glacier Exp. Are you skiing? Sightseeing?

As far as don't miss places,

Zermatt, certainly qualifies. So does the Jungfrau region. All depends on your interests. Get back to the forum if/when you have a better idea of what to look at.

Regards,

Danielsan

Hello BLINGRAHAM,

Thank you Danielsan as always for your valuable input :-)

I agree, it would probably make sense to cancel the hotel in Chur as reaching Chur from Zermatt would be quite a long trip and yes, you would bypass Chur whilst on the Glacier Express.

Similarly, I am unsure of your itinerary, perhaps you could share a little of where you are arriving from and your 'final' departure date and location. This extra information, we can guide you accordingly? Any specific interests are helpful as well.

Some useful links in the meantime.

• https://www.myswissalps.com/stmoritz
• www.myswissalps.com/zermatt/activities
• www.myswissalps.com/jungfraujoch
• www.myswissalps.com/glacierexpress

Feel free to reach out with any further questions.

Kind regards,
Yolanda

I would be so grateful for any and all advice! I am traveling with my husband and 30 year-old son. Our main goal is the Glacier Express but that’s all I’ve had time to book. And we arrive in Europe on Feb 18 so I need to get going with my planning! We fly into Prague on Feb 18 and spend one night there. I’m thinking we will take an overnight train to Switzerland on Sunday night, Feb 19, but I’m not sure what city to go to. The Global Express begins in St Moritz on Feb 21 and ends in Zermatt, so I would like to stay overnight in St Moritz on Monday night. What is the best way to get there? Thinking Zermatt on Tuesday night since that’s where the Global Express will end. I made a hotel reservation there for one night. No plans after that (I will cancel Chur.) Our trip back to Prague will be on Friday (should we overnight train again? Or fly?) Saturday in Prague. Fly home to US Sunday morning.

We don’t ski but a cable/tram ride sounds fun. Not planning to shop but I’d love a nice meal somewhere.

I have a lot of family responsibility here and just haven’t had time to research this trip. (My dad just turned 100! I wish he could come along!)

thank you for any and all suggestions. I am SO GRATEFUL!

Thank you, Yolanda! I will follow the links and do some reading… and cancel Chur! I don’t have much of an itinerary so far, but I gave what I have in a separate post. Open to suggestions!

Hello BLINGRAHAM,

Thank you for sharing more details regarding your trip, you must be all getting excited. Congratulations on your father turning 100, that's amazing!!

So, should you be arriving in Switzerland by train from Prague, it appears the more direct route would have you entering Switzerland via Basel. From Basel you could connect up with a train that would take you to Chur and thereon another train to arrive in St. Moritz. Here is the timetable link, so you take a look and plan accordingly: https://www.myswissalps.com/timetable

If you like cable car rides, it maybe worth adding another night in Zermatt and enjoy the cable car ride to the Klein Matterhorn. More details here: https://www.myswissalps.com/kleinmatterhorn/gettingthere

Returning back to Prague, perhaps instead of doubling back on yourself, you could take an alternative route back to for example, Basel (that is, if you are taking the train again back to Prague) via the Lötshberg mountain route and seeing some different parts of Switzerland (Brig, Spiez, Interlaken) More information here: https://www.myswissalps.com/lotschberger

I hope this helps, feel free to reach out with any further questions.

Kind regards,

Yolanda